The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1887-10-18
NEGRO SUGGESTIONS.

Southern DarkIes Who See an Omen In
Nearly Every Animate Object
The belief has prevailed among the
Southern negroes for many years that
the hand of a dead friend will bring
continued prosperity to its possessor.
and no doubt il the many colored
graveyards in that section were made
to give up their dead the skeletons Of
not few would be found to be minus
the right hand. The Southern blacks
also believe that the big toe of a de-
ceased friend. carried on the person,
will keep away disease, and that the
toes of an enemy can be used as
charms to conjure their living enemies.
Thus it is they originated the lines:
Wild dis honey toe,
III bring dem woe,
Fore daylight In de mornin'.
Voudoo doctors-and there are pleL
ty of them in the Southern States
carry on an extensive traffic in human
bones and other portions of the body.
They use the skull to perform mystic
ceremony for the sick, or to bring luck
TO povertystricken family; the ears
are employed in another ceremony.
the outcome of which is to find out
what your enemies are saying about
you, and the other bones all have a
mission to perform while the voudoo is
humbugging his victim. The voudoo
doctor is usually a naturally smart
darky, with good flow of converse
ton. and as much inventive genius as
a Bowery confidence man. In Wash
ington of late the voudoos have become
rather scarce, as the police arrest them
as Migrants whenever they put in an
appearance.
The country negroes in South Caro-
lima, Georgia and portions of Florida
have a very pretty and somewhat poet
ical superstition. During the stiffness
of the night when the gentle swaying
pine trees are singing their weird re-
QUEENS, whole families will sit about
their cabin doors and listen intently to
ing melody they hear the voices of dead
friends predicting good or evil for the
future or revealing secrets of the tomb.
No reward could induce the negro
surfmen on the North Carolina coast
to walk along the beach at night, es-
pecially during storm, when the
lightning is flashing and the huge white
capped breakers come suffering in on
the sandy beach. They imagine they
can see in the phosphorescent light the
forms of sailors who were lost at sea,
riding in astride of the huge pillows.
On account of this superstition it has
been found impossible to induce negro
cosstmen TO enter the life-saving SER
vice, no matter how well adapted they
may be for the work. The tedious
night patrol along the desolate sea-
shore is what they object to. The aver
age seashore negro would almost rather
die than to encounter the vague form
of departed sailor man in the surf or
on the beach.
There are many minor superstitions
among the colored people. If a cow
stops in front of a house and bellows il
is sure sign that some one on the
premises will die. If the cow bellows
twice the party marked for dissolution
will die in two days, two weeks or two
months. Should the animal below
five times, which is q rare occurrence,
adeath will occur in less than one week.
When q cock enters the house and
crows therein, it means that the fami-
ly will have visitors. To crow Just
outside the door indicates that
the residents of the house will be
suddenly called away on a mission.
Sometimes an overfed hen will make a
sound which resembles the faint crow
ing of young rooster. This is re-
garded as an evil omen, and the luck
less hen is always decapitated when the
owner is at all superstitious. Scien-
fists say the sound is caused by indi-
gestiOn. The darkies have a verse they
repeat in this connection. It is this:
A whistling woman
And a Growing hen
VIII never come
10 any SOOQ enQ
The owl usually boots three times.
When this uncanny bird forgets itself
and increases the number Of boots to
four or five. the plantation negroes re-
gard it as an omen of sickness, starva-
ton or death. To kill a cat means
that the person who did the killing will
have seven years of bad luck. To
catch a water-snake on your fishing
line is a sure sign that your enemies
are trying to entrap and kill you.
Thus the negroes say:
Catch a snake,
Let him 20,
For death Is q comm
Sho and sho.
To see q flock of crows lowering
about your house is very bad sign,
and to drop your Bible while poinp tn